City officials are hoping that Jessie Pressman, chief executive of a tech-education startup for adults called Bite Size Learning, is indicative of how local businesses feel about taking on a New York-branded Internet identity.

Ms. Pressman jumped at the chance last week to apply to become one of the first New York companies to own a Web address ending in .nyc. The initial rollout made New York the first city in the United States with a localized top-level domain name.

Program backers are selling .nyc as a marketing opportunity for those looking to identify themselves and their businesses with the Big Apple and improve their visibility on search engines, especially among mobile users who make location-based searches.

"New York City is an incredible brand," said Jeff Neuman, vice president of Registry Services at Neustar Inc., a Virginia-based telecommunications company managing the launch. "Associating yourself with that brand is an amazing opportunity for real New Yorkers and real New York businesses."

If enough New Yorkers see it that way, .nyc might also be a moneymaker for city coffers. Per the terms of its deal with Neustar, the city will generate revenue by collecting 60% of annual domain registration fees from the new Web addresses.

Neustar has set all .nyc domain annual registration fees at $20, plus a sliding-scale, one-time setup cost, though several companies that are authorized to sell and register .nyc domain names are expected to add their fees on top of that.

"Smaller companies, like incubator-level and up-and-coming tech startups, will pay a premium for a .nyc address," said Dan Roche, vice president of marketing at technology communications firm TalkPoint. "It will show your real involvement and allegiance to Silicon Alley. It's a marketing play."

In that vein, the city is testing the appeal of .nyc addresses through a multistage rollout.

The "sunrise phase" began last week and runs through June 20. It's open to any business that has a physical address in the five boroughs and has registered its domain name as a trademark—to avoid squabbles over ownership rights.

From that initial pool of applicants, Neustar and the city will select up to 50 sites as part of their "founders' program," websites operated by individuals, businesses or causes they feel best represent New York City. In addition to a discounted setup fee, founders will be included in a marketing push that will highlight their sites as part of the wider marketing of .nyc domains.

"As it is the first localized domain name for a city, Google and other search engines might lag behind, so the immediate benefits might not be enormous initially," said Austin Paley, a corporate marketing associate at digital marketer Blue Fountain Media.

After phase one, from June 25 through the end of July, the city will start doling out .nyc addresses reserved for city agencies and local charities. Once those are handed out, Neustar will open the gates for all New Yorkers who want to buy .nyc domains.

The "land rush" period will start Aug. 4 and end Oct. 3. Multiple applications for one .nyc address, like pizza.nyc or hotels.nyc, will be sold through an auction process this fall.

"We're trying to intelligently anticipate what we believe will be high demand," said Mr. Neuman. Neustar is also being careful in safeguarding the authenticity of .nyc domain names.

The company is requiring applicants to provide a set of virtual and real-life bona fides, like mailing and IP addresses, that prove they are actually operating in New York City. Neustar will not accept applications from post-office boxes or proxy servers, ensuring as best it can that companies using the domain are indeed doing business from within the five boroughs.

Owning New York

"Because there is a screening process to get a .nyc domain, there might be added value for businesses in terms of a site's domain authority," said Mr. Paley. "It's kind of like how .edu and .gov domains enjoy a huge boost in authority because those domains act as an indicator for search-engine algorithms that they are sources that can be trusted."

Safeguarding the integrity of what city officials are referring to as "geographic authority" is key to making .nyc appealing to businesses.

Getting noticed

Neustar is confident .nyc will be a big hit—so much so that its contract requires it to pay the city about $3.6 million over the next five years on top of whatever City Hall collects from its majority cut of annual registration fees, regardless of the number of domains sold.

Still, .nyc will have to compete for attention in a crowded market of domain extensions. During the next few months, more than 1,300 new domain extensions will hit the market, with options like .miami, .vegas as well as .club, .hotel, and even .sexy, which may have wider appeal; .london and .rio are already available.

"If you don't want to localize your company, if you don't have plans to expand out of the city, then .nyc is perfect," said Mr. Roche. "But if you want to be a larger brand, a national or global player, this domain could be pigeonholing yourself a bit."

Ms. Pressman, the tech education CEO who applied to be a .nyc founder almost immediately, says conquering the city is plenty enough reason to buy a piece of digital New York. "If New York was a smaller city, that might be a concern," she said. "But this is New York City. Everyone wants to be a part of it."

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